Broken Glass
by party.every.day
Summary: InoxSakuraxKarin Deep down, she knew what the problem was. She didn't know that if she had to choose that she could live with just one. Why live life halfway when she could have her cake and eat it too? But then she never really did understand that saying
1. Introduction

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_Broken Glasses_

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The mirror was foggy. The air in the room was hot and humid, but that was to be expected considering someone had just finished their shower. As she wrapped a towel around her body she opened the door. Upon being met with a blast of cold air she sighed. It felt nice against her skin after such a hot shower..and night.

She crossed the short distance to the only room in the apartment in seconds, and smirked at the messiness of it. Bed sheets thrown wildly about, the night stand lay on its side, contents and items that had once been positioned so neatly on it splayed across the floor.

Leaving the door wide open she dropped her towel and began to gather her clothes that were laying on the floor starting from the door way leading up to he far right corner of the room.

The unusually unkept items stirred her memories of what had happened only hours before. She could still taste it on her lips and smell faint traces of that floral scented body mist on her shorts and shirt.

When at last she pushed her arms through the sleeves of her baby blue shirt she exited the bedroom. Taking another step out of the bedroom the smell of something toasted and sweet wafted over her. She knew it could only be caused by something being cooked. The sight in the kitchen almost didn't confirm that theory because there was no soft tune being hummed and the lights were off.

Instead the slightly shorter pink haired girl still dressed in her thin tank-top and shorts stood over a small silver appliance. Before she could reach out and poke the other girl she turned around and said "Good morning Karin!" in a voice slightly louder than necessary.

Karin nearly had a heart attack, somehow Sakura always managed to hear her sneaking up even when she wasn't making any noise. "Sakura! Don't do that you startled me!" She said breathlessly.

The other girl smirked, "And who was sneaking up on whom?" She said mockingly.

They both flinched violently when the toaster popped up with out warning. Sakura burst out laughing at their mirrored reactions, "God I hate that." Karin grumbled still feeling grumpy from not being able to sneak up on the other girl.

Sakura plucked the pop tart up from the toaster broke it in half and took a big eager bite. Karin's mouth watered and her stomach painfully reminded her she hadn't eaten dinner last night. Taking a step forward she wrapped a hand around Sakura's, taking a bite a little too close to her fingers.

Her two front teeth dragged across the skin of the girl's middle and pointer fingers. Her tongue whipped out and curled itself around one and sucked lightly. Karin's daring look was marred only slightly by her chewing on the cinnamon brown sugar pop tart.

She crossed her arms over her chest. Sakura blushed and looked away deciding to change the unspoken subject, "Hey Karin, where did your glasses go?"

Karin blinked. Sure she could tell the difference between when she was wearing her glasses and when she wasn't, but she honestly hadn't noticed. Everything _was_ a bit hazy: thin straight lines where thick and fuzzy to her, and Sakura's eyes looked like dots of green oil that repelled itself from the surrounding white water.

"Umm…I don't know." She retraced her footsteps, with Sakura in toe, back to her bedroom and looked over at the nightstand with dread. Rays of sunlight that arched over the closed blinds sparkled on the few shards of broken glass.

Kneeling down next to the mess, Karin's nimble fingers sorted through the mess, until she laid eyes on what she had hoped she wouldn't find here. Picking them up by the thick black frame, she assessed the damage.

The left lens had several cracks; the right though, seemed to be, for the most part intact. With the pad of her pointer finger she tapped the glass. Upon impact the lens broke into countless pieces and fell to the carpet in front of her.

"Oh damn." She said casually. Sakura on the other hand freaked out, her eyes widened and her jaw dropped.

"Oh my god! Karin what are you gonna do? It was all my fault if I hadn't-" she was cut off by the girl sporting scarlet hair.

"Sakura. I'm near sighted not blind." She said fingering the empty space.

* * *

Hate to end it there but I'm afraid my time has run out as well as my thoughts. I'm very pleased with how this turned out, usually I hate yuri and now I'm writing it! I must be the biggest hypocrite on the face of the planet! Anyway, please review and tell me what you think, thanks!


	2. Ultra violet

Your love's like ultra violet

_Your love's like ultra violet _

_I can feel it burn but I like it yeah..._

_I'm on autopilot_

_Heading for the sun…_

_**U**__ltra __**V**__iolet_

_-_

"Well excuse me for giving a shit!" Sakura said in mock anger throwing a light punch Karin's way. The red head caught Sakura's fist, but her smart-ass remark was cut off by the shrill buzzing sound that echoed around the room through the open doorway from the living room.

They both stopped their antics, Karin looked at Sakura questioningly, who in turn shrugged her shoulders and rose to answer the buzz. Karin busied herself by plucking the tiny shards of glass out of the carpet and depositing them in the black waist basket in Sakura's bathroom.

She walked the short distance to the front door where Sakura was talking to some person by the soft slightly high-pitched tone of the voice; she guessed it to be one of Sakura's female friends.

Karin silently crept into the kitchen, picked up the steadily cooling half of the pop tart that had been abandoned earlier and leaned against the counter top to listen in on the words being exchanged a couple of feet over.

From the sounds of it the conversation was coming to a close and, on cue, Sakura confirmed this idea by reaching to hug her friend then closing the door. There was something shiny in her hands and it made a light crinkling noise when she set it on the bar counter and pushed it toward Karin with a huge grin on her face.

Karin spared it one glance, "What's with this?"

Sakura crossed her arms and raised a delicate pink brow, "You aren't even gonna guess?"

Karin took another bite of her breakfast snack and thought it over. "I really don't know- wait, is this for me?" Sakura nodded. Karin reached for it and ripped the crunchy paper away from it raised a brow of her own. Sitting atop red confetti paper in a small plastic pink basket, was a bath set consisting of two bottles. She read the labels, one was a shower gel and one was body lotion.

"Who brought this?" Karin uncapped the body lotion, took a whiff and instantly took another deciding she liked it. It actually smelled like grape fruit as the label read, natural, not resembling chemicals as she has originally assumed it would.

"Ino. She wants to be friends-"

"What? Does she think I should shower more often or something?" Karin slammed the small plastic bottle on to the counter.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why do you always assume the worst when it comes to her?"

"Because she's a bitch!" Karin raised her voice as if it would make Sakura see the light of day. "And obviously she thinks I stink."

"She can be nice if you give her something to be nice about." Sakura sighed and looked to the ceiling in an attempt to block out Karin's tiny bitch fit. Sakura had been there with Ino, but that had been so long ago, middle school drama. But over time they had become friends, because it was so easy, hell, it would be hard for Sakura and Ino to not get along…well except for the occasional passionate rivalries.

Karin knew they were close, knew that there were some places she had never been and could never go with Sakura because of her close-knit friendship with Ino. There were times when Karin would jump at the chance to rip all of the blonde's pretty hair out of her head but had to restrain herself because it would Sakura angry. And an angry Sakura didn't always work in Karin's favor.

"Look! This is a popular brand and not cheap." Sakura said pointing to the label on the front of one of the bottles, "Ino wouldn't spend _any_ money on some one she didn't like."

"Well then she's just kissing my ass to make you happy." Karin grumbled. Sakura laughed.

"Ino kissing ass? Please, don't make me laugh so much Karin, it can't be healthy."

Karin glared at her.

"Well if your not going to use these, I will." Sakura said as if that statement finalized just about everything. She reached for them only to have her hand slapped away.

"I never said I wouldn't use them." Karin said reluctantly.

* * *

The sun was ruthless later that afternoon. It seemed to beat down particularly hard on the parking lot just outside of Ino's apartment.

"Actually it's technically classified as town house." Sakura said as Ino relayed her opinion on the weather.

"Not really. It not that big." Ino replied, licking the sticky juice from her half-melted Popsicle off her fingers.

"Um, it has four rooms, and just because it _isn't big_ doesn't mean it _isn't a_ _town house_." Sakura leaned back against the concrete steps upon which she was seated. The blistering concrete burned into her back and elbows through the leather of her jacket, but she didn't really mind it.

"Well…it is big." Ino smirked.

"Well thanks for rubbing it my face. You know my place is just a big square with a couple walls to divide the bed, bath, living room and kitchen into four littler squares." At this statement Ino laughed.

"Which is all the more reason to move in with me!" Ino grinned at her pink haired best friend "It would be so much fun; we could have a slumber party every night." Sakura tilted her head deep in thought.

"What about your room mates?" She questioned.

"I only have two and there never really around. Hinata is always out with Naruto and Tenten spends all her time in the gym with Neji." Ino countered.

"Hmmm….That idea is up for some major consideration. It's just that I've lived in that place since I was sixteen. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that kind of change." Sakura said seriously.

Ino rolled her eyes, "Oh please Sakura, your just worried you won't be able to bring your dates home with you."

Sakura burst out laughing. "Oh, okay Yamanaka. Speak for yourself." On the outside Sakura was in a fit of giggles, but really the bead of sweat that rolled down her neck wasn't because of the heat, because quite frankly, privacy _was_ an issue.

Sakura stood as the cell phone in her pocket vibrated. She ignored it but briefly informed Ino that her class was about to start and she wanted to avoid the lunchtime traffic. She flicked her Popsicle stick in the garbage can and headed for her car. Once she was seated comfortably, behind the wheel she flipped open her phone and read the new text message waiting innocently in her inbox.

"_**iced coffee"**_

Sakura recognized the number, it was Karin and by the looks of it, she was paying. The smooth leather seat burned against her back and she was in the process of turning the air conditioning on full blast when she looked out of her windshield and paused.

Ino was still seated on the recently paved staircase leading to the sidewalk pathway that led to her townhouse. Her blond hair shined brilliantly like a halo that fell around her shoulders and down her back, out of its usual ponytail. Finishing her sweet, cold not-so-frozen treat, she stood and straightened out her denim mini skirt and headed back down the walk to her apartment.

Sakura realized she was staring when Ino disappeared into her townhouse and closed the door. She blinked, then started her car and peeled out of the parking lot.

* * *

Heading For the Sun- Alexz Johnson from _Instant Star_ (yes I love that show)

Naruto- Kishimoto-sensei


	3. All Around Me

_Take my hand  
I give it to you  
Now you own me  
All I am  
You said you would never leave me  
I believe you  
I believe_

_**A**__ll __**A**__round __**M**__e_

_-_

Sakura welcomed the feeling of the thick, icy liquid running down her parched throat. She switched the frosty can of Starbucks Doubleshot to her other hand. She placed her empty hand to the back of her neck and sighed, her freezing hand felt nice against her perspiring skin. The air conditioning was on, but it wasn't doing a very good job of circulating around the room.

The room quickly filled with the sounds of students packing up and rushing to the exits. Sakura stayed in her seat for a minute before piling her notes neatly into her folder and sticking it into her backpack. By the time she rose and walked down the isle, most of the student traffic had eased out of the door.

As she exited the huge building, which was nothing more than a complicated maze of hallways, classrooms and such, she frowned at the heat that seemed to cling and settle around her body like water. She looked out over the parking lot and squinted. The sun bounced off the dark pavement brightly, and reflected in nearly every windshield, it was painful to look. Sakura pulled out her sunglasses and walked a little bit straighter, chin up, shoulders back. Sometimes she felt that no matter what was out there waiting for her, what ever surprises that were thrown her way, she would be able to deal with them, out smart them and come out on top.

She circled around the building and headed for the back parking lot. It was a god place to park because it wasn't ever packed, and it wasn't ever packed because of the distance from it to the main entrance. She spotted her car immediately, mostly because it was the only shiny new black car with a girl sprawled across the hood, but mostly because it was the only shiny, new, black car in the lot.

"Karin! What are you doing? Get off of my baby." Sakura said with a sigh as she pressed the button to unlock the doors. She set her drink on the top of her car and threw her backpack in the back seat. Then she moved to get in the car but was stopped by hands that pulled her out and pressed her roughly against the searing, gorgeous painted metal.

"I was waiting for you, duh." She whispered against Sakura's lips.

Sakura responded right away, she pushed back and tangled her hands in Karin's hair. The kiss was long and intense and all through out the roles of leader and follower, dominate and dominated were constantly switched until they reluctantly broke away to breathe. Karin winked at Sakura who was still breathless and walked around to the passenger side and got in.

"So, did you decide whether or not you want to be friends with Ino?" Sakura glanced at Karin briefly before turning her eyes back to the road.

Karin scowled and crossed her arms "What's to decide? We're never going to get along-" Sakura started to smile "So don't get your hopes up."

"Hey, I'm just saying." They sat in silence for a while until Karin spoke again.

"Well don't. Sometimes you can be just too optimistic." Karin glared and pointed a finger at her. Sakura laughed and rolled her eyes.

"Well your coming with me anyway." Sakura said.

"What? You're going to her house? Why? Can't you just drop me off or something?" Karin huffed.

"Too late, we're already here." Sakura said satisfied as she pulled into the parking lot.

The walked up the wooden stairs until they reached the black front door, and didn't have to wait long, because no sooner had she knocked the door opened.

"Come in guys, the pizza just got here." Ino smiled at Sakura, glanced at Karin and opened the door wider so they could enter. They walked in to the kitchen and as promised, two pizza boxes sat a top the island. "What do you want?"

"Um, Surprise me." Sakura replied. She hadn't realized how hungry she was until the mouth-watering scent of hot pizza hit her. She gratefully accepted her slice of pineapple, ham and pepperoni.

"Hey look, it's Sakura!" The tall blonde appeared in the door way of the kitchen and slapped her on the back so hard she began to choke. Hinata fallowed slower and greeted the two girls.

"Hey Naruto." Sakura said and once she had swallowed the bite that she had been previously choking on, she punched him. She waved and smiled at Hinata who returned the gesture.

"Karin." Naruto pulled roughly on a lock of her hair.

"Naruto." She said while punching him hard in his gut.

When he recovered, Naruto took the slice of pizza out of Ino's hand and took a huge bite, he handed what was left back to her but she gave him a disgusted look. "Suit yourself." He shrugged and walked back around the island and handed the half-eaten slice to Hinata, who plucked off a pepperoni.

"Hey Sakura, you have to come see what we've done to the basement." Naruto said excitedly.

"This place has a basement?" Naruto didn't give her a chance to protest, he pulled her off her barstool and carried her over his shoulder through the door way down two flights of stairs and plopped her down on one of the three couches that were positioned around the huge flat screen TV.

Sakura turned her head and saw Sasuke -gorgeous as always- controller in hand, eyes glued to the video game displayed on the television. "Hey Sasuke."She said.

She flicked him on his nose when he didn't respond.

"Yo." He said slapping her hand away. Naruto laughed and after a short while of them flinging insults at each other Sakura had to yell at them to shut up.

Just then, Sakura realized that, as she turned, Karin wasn't down there. Meaning she must still be in the kitchen. With Ino.

She bolted off the couch and up the stairs. She only caught the tail end of the conversation as she entered the kitchen but she could tell that it couldn't be good.

"Well it's nice to know that you haven't changed." Karin sneered.

If looks could kill Karin would be a bleeding hunk of flesh on the ground, Ino's expression was murderous. Karin slid off the bar stool and walked briskly toward the door.

Sakura gave Ino a look and jogged to catch up to Karin. When they were in the parking lot and out of earshot, Sakura caught Karin by the shoulder and tried to turn her around but Karin shrugged her off.

"Karin!"

"What!" She finally turned around; Sakura could see the moisture welling up in her eyes.

"Why aren't you wearing your glasses?" Sakura enquired, maybe it was because it always freaked her out when Karin cried or maybe she really was trying to change the subject, she couldn't stop herself from asking a stupid question.

"Because they're broken, and don't try to change the subject." Karin turned and started walking again.

"Come on you're starting to be ridiculous."

She stopped and whipped around so fast Sakura almost ran into her. "Excuse me for not wanting to look like a jackass! I just knew that she was gonna' play the 'nice girl' and make it look like I am being the bitch-"

"Well maybe you are!" Sakura almost yelled, she'd had enough of Karin's immaturity.

Karin glared a little harder, "Girls like her are predictable. They destroy every one that they don't care about," Karin continued like Sakura had never interrupted, "When their not busy whoring themselves around." There was venom in her voice and her words hit Sakura like a slap in the face.

"Look Karin, calling names isn't going to help anything." Karin rolled her eyes angrily. "And stop _talking about her_ like that, I wouldn't let her call you names!"

"Sure Sakura whatever, just go away." She said bitterly.

"What? You don't believe me? Look I care about you, a lot, but I care about her too, you two are like family, and it hurts that you guys can't get along." Sakura had stopped walking.

Her breath caught, there was distance, and she hated it. Not just the physical distance, but the emotional as well, and with each biting word the space grew bigger. Karin gave her a disgusted look, and turned.

Sakura's heart raced, she didn't want Karin to walk away from her, not when she must be hurting from whatever Ino must have said to make her cry. "Karin wait, please."

Karin stopped walking and turned around. "What're you going to say next Sakura? That you need me?" She yelled. The next part was quiet, so quiet that Sakura barely heard it. "Go to her for what you need, I'm sure she would be happy to give it to you." Then she walked away.

Sakura absolutely loathed the situation. For a long time she couldn't do anything but stand there, eye's wide, sweaty palms curled into fists. Her shoulders shook, her breathing was fast and uncontrolled. Her tears made the world look like a jumble of colors and shapes mixed. She wiped at her eyes angrily, she registered that the sun was setting and it was ugly.

The orange clouds discolored the sky, the sky which seemed so two faced. It was blue towards the east sad and dark, but happy, bright and tainted in the west. She almost chuckled to herself. She sounded stupid; she was judging the sky like it was a person.

Once she slammed the door of her car, she couldn't control the sobs that rolled in like thunder and the tears that rolled down her face went ignored until they dried and she sat there numb, all cried out. She decided she should just go home.

* * *

It was in the darkness that she decided she couldn't be alone. Of all the things she couldn't stand, being alone was the one thing she couldn't bear. She had been on her own ever since death had first introduced himself to her, and living alone had taught her many things, solitude being one of them.

She flipped open her phone and dialed a number she knew by heart. "_hello?" _ The voice that answered soothed her a little.

"Yea, I gave it some thought, and I've decided." Sakura buried herself deeper under her covers, wishing she could just disappear, because as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted them. She was betraying the one person she had given her everything to, and it hurt. It hurt more than any sprained ankle or broken arm. An injury she couldn't see, couldn't treat, it was then that she realized, the wounds you couldn't see hurt for more than any physical pain.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

All Around Me- Fly Leaf

Don't worry guys, Karin comes back, eventually.


	4. My December

_This is my December  
These are my snow-covered trees  
This is me pretending  
This is all I need_

_**M**__y __**D**__ecember_

_-_

The persistent vibrating of her cell phone was what pulled her out of her deep sleep and into foggy awareness. Her phone was still in the back pocket of her jeans where she had left it last night, said jeans were very uncomfortable to sleep in she soon realized.

Her phone vibrated again. She sighed, pulled it out and through it half-heartedly across the room. She didn't care to check the caller id, she didn't care to talk to anyone at the moment. It landed noiselessly in the carpeted hallway.

After showering and changing into a more comfortable pair of jeans and a black t-shirt, she picked her phone up off the grounded and shoved into her pocket. She grabbed one of her favorite caffeinated beverages from out of the fridge and sipped it, but it did little to improve her mood even if the grogginess and haze drifted away not long before she finished it.

She showed up for work right on time. There were no distractions this morning, no surprises that normally threw her off schedule. The hours flew by with out her really noticing until her shift was up, her mood lifting slightly.

When she got into her car, she popped in her favorite CD and increased the volume until the speakers jumped and she could feel the bass in her chest. She drove with out really thinking, but ended up where she was supposed to be anyway.

The few people in the parking lot stared, mostly out of annoyance, and she honestly did not notice. Once in her regular parking space, one she that could easily see from the window of her bedroom, she cut the engine, lowered the volume, and whipped out her phone annoyed. It had been going insane the entire ride home.

Sakura flipped it open, _10 Missed Calls_, read the little screen in big black letters. She rolled her eyes and turned the thing off.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The sheets were cool and soft as she rolled over, shifting to find a comfortable angle to rest. Her eyes land on the little red candle, it's flame dancing with the shifting air. The candle had been new when it was lit- only a handful of minutes ago- now there was a deep trench around the smoldering wick filled with melted wax. And she hadn't even seen it melt.

Just like she hadn't seen her most cherished bond spontaneously combust. Perhaps, just like the candle, her bond was meant to dissolve, perhaps she should have seen it coming.

Karin.

Most disappointing thing was, it didn't even smell like anything.

Just…burning.

Bare feet padded softly across carpet, her voice echoed not as softly. "Sakura stop it. You have to stop." Green eyes rolled slowly over to her, framed in the doorway, her damp golden hair spilling over her shoulders in soft, persistent waves.

"Stop what?" It was painfully obvious that she was still miserable over Karin.

It had been almost a week; surely, they all didn't expect her to get over the only girl she'd ever wanted in just three and half days.

Ino rolled her eyes and walked over to her closet, disappearing into the room that she had spent countless hours in the mall to fill. Sakura sat up and ran a hand through her hair shaking it out to give it life, not wanting it to keep its objectionable matted look.

Three and half days.

Three and half days she'd been with out.

_Her eyes ached from the abuse of her current position. She sat in the corner of her kitchen, knees pulled tightly against her chest. The heels of her palms slamming into her eyelids, where just beneath hot, salty tears slipped out and rolled down her stained cheeks, to her runny nose on to her lips pressed together as tight as she could manage, and finally to gather and drop down to pool on her exposed collarbone and stain her shirt. _

_A sob jumped from her mouth and soon another and then another, they kept coming until, many minutes later she forced herself to quiet down. She reigned in as much emotion as she could and dialed the number. There was no answer on the other line, except for the voice of the answering machine, which was, by the way, gorgeous, beautiful even. She was swept away, it was a voice she hadn't heard in two days and yet it felt like a life time. _

_There was a beep and somewhere she registered that she was expected to say something, to 'leave a message'. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out, what could she say, what should she say? There was no way she could possibly convert all of her feelings into words, let alone thirty seconds worth._

"Sakura, it's six o'clock, way too early to be going to bed." Ino called from the confines of her closet.

"I wasn't going to bed," Sakura yawned, and raised her hands above her head to stretch, "I was just resting. You know all this homework is killing me." The various papers, binders and books that littered the ground proved that.

"You're the smartest out of all of us Sakura don't tell me your losing it." Ino said appearing from her closet in jeans and a tank top. "I mean I know you and Karin were tight but don't let her get you so down."

Sakura frowned; there was just the slightest prickling from behind her eyes, but she forced it back, she didn't want to look like the loser she felt like inside. "Nobody said anything about me getting dumber, it's just the stress. You know it's hard enough keeping a perfect GPA, but getting dumped only makes all the little things just that much harder." The prickling of tears was coming back.

"Sakura, just try not to think about her." Ino said reassuringly.

"But she was the perfect study buddy-"

"If you want to study, we can hit the books. _Right now_." Ino said firmly. "Because I hate seeing you like this so I'll do what ever it takes to make you happy again. Even if it means, studying when we could be watching awesome chick-flicks with _Ben and Jerry._"

Sakura couldn't help but smile, as hurtful as it was she pushed her worries to the back of her mind. She couldn't be down and out twenty-four hours a day.

"You get the flicks, I'll get Ben and Jerry." Sakura said, her smile growing. Ino winked before disappearing into the hall. Sakura disentangled herself from the soft sheets and headed for the kitchen.

* * *

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, and I do not own "My December" by Linkin Park


End file.
